An adult stories – Loneliest Man Who Ever Lived Ch. 05 by GaryLMMartin,GaryLMMartin [Note: This is a romance story with some erotic scenes. It is not a story with erotic scenes in every chapter. Some chapters have incredible sex scenes, but many others have none.]
Chapter 5: Saturday
Harry worked steadily for a day on the page of equations which Goldie had given him. He felt he was making progress, but it was not until Friday evening that he came up with the answer. He smiled, nodded, checked the result twice, just to be sure, and commed it to Goldie. He waited anxiously for an answer.
It came an hour later, as a text message.
SEE YOU SATURDAY. I CAN’T WAIT.
Neither could Harry.
********
Goldie greeted him with open arms, and Harry found himself eagerly falling into them when he saw her at the hotel. It had been three days since they had last been together, but it felt like an eternity. He hadn’t gone back to his nightly visits on the wharf, but he had been terribly anxious and distracted. He was beginning to need Goldie, and it frightened him. He knew his quasi-relationship with her would end sooner or later–probably sooner, rather than later–and he knew he would have to deal with the disappointment and make the painful readjustment to the life of a loner… but not today.
“I missed you,” said Goldie, when she pulled back. She looked gorgeous. Her wavey brown and blonde hair, splashed over her shoulders, was now draped over a smart black leather jacket. She looked so sexy!
“I missed you too,” Harry blurted. He hadn’t meant to say it, but he couldn’t help it.
Goldie let a hand play over the lapel of his jacket. “That’s the first time you’ve ever said anything nice to me, Harry.” She looked up at him with half lidded eyes. “Are you starting to like me, Harry? Even just a tiny bit?”
Harry nodded, not trusting his voice. He felt himself starting to become erect, deep inside his pants.
“Good,” said Goldie. “So where are we going today?”
********
Central Park was beautiful in early November. The leaves were changing color and were various shades of orange, yellow, and red. The air was cool and crisp, in the low 60’s. Gentle white puffy clouds hovered in the sky. It was a perfect day for a walk.
Central Park wasn’t the only thing that was beautiful. Harry was very aware of all the eyes on them. Well, not so much on them, as her. He had a gorgeous woman on his arm, talking and smiling, and Harry saw more than one head turning in her direction. It was very much like one of Harry’s many fantasies, when he would go to Central Park, pick out a woman, and imagine her in a relationship with him. Only now the fantasy was real. For a day, Harry’s dreams had become reality.
Goldie noticed the other men staring at them, and smiled very happily and said, “Men. They always want what they can’t have. It’s in their nature.”
“And your nature?” Harry asked.
“I have exactly what I want,” said Goldie, squeezing his arm as she smiled at him, and she looked so intently at Harry that he thought she was going to kiss him.
They sat by the lake, a place where Harry had sat many times, contemplating life and the nature of existence. The ancient high rise apartment buildings of Manhattan loomed incongruously just a block or two away.
The lake was not merely a lake. Harry had realized that early on. In one sense, it was a lake, surrounded by an island (Manhattan), which itself was surrounded by water. It was all part of a larger whole. Whenever people came and sat by the lake, they became part of the lake. Their worries, their joys, their dialogs, all became part of the ecosystem of the lake. The nature of the lake changed based on whoever was sitting near it. For a time, Harry too was part of the lake, but he never felt part of it; he was always an outsider, clad in his silvery spacesuit, on the outside looking in.
“It’s beautiful,” said Goldie, watching Canada Geese trailed by a series of ducklings bob up and down the water. “Do you come here a lot?”
“Yes,” said Harry. “To observe the humans.” He realized his mistake immediately. It had been so long, so very long since he had talked to anyone, anyone at all, except for Carl-
Goldie gave a broad smile. “And what are you, Harry?”
“I… I….” Harry found himself faltering.
She took his hand. “Do you know the textbook definition of humanity, Harry?”
“I don’t know,” said Harry, feeling embarrassed.
Goldie looked into his eye. “The textbook definition of a human is a being who is able to reproduce with other humans. Are you human, Harry?”
“I… I suppose so.”
“In theory only, I suppose,” she said, and he could see that she was teasing him again. Goldie suppressed her inner anguish; she had long ago accepted her own fate in this matter. She was barren, but Harry would never know.
“Goldie, I-”
“Oh, look, Harry! Rowboats!” Goldie cried, pointing to the water. “Rent a rowboat for us, Harry. Would you, please?”
Harry couldn’t refuse.
He loved the look of pure joy on her face as they did the simplest of things together. It was like they were both alive for the very first time. Goldie looked so happy seeing him row, and he had no idea why.
“Why are you smiling?” Harry asked.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Goldie asked.
“No,” said Harry.
“Harry, stop the boat.”
“What?”
“Just stop rowing for a minute,” said Goldie.
Harry stopped. Suddenly, it became very quiet. The loudest sound was the water lapping against the side of the boat. He looked around. They were very nearly in the middle of the lake. All around them was water.
Goldie grabbed his hand, and leaned close to him. “A moment ago you asked me why I was happy, Harry.” She stared into his beautiful blue eyes. “It’s because I’m trapped here, in the middle of a lake. All alone… with you.” And then she leaned close, and traced the edges of her lips against Harry’s, just barely touching his. Was she actually touching his lips, or was she just so very close that he imagined it? For the life of him, Harry was not sure.
Harry felt the warmth of her breath as she gently blew on his lips. His heart pounded in his chest. His body shivered.
“Do you like that, Harry?” Goldie asked. It was almost an odd question, since she had barely touched him. But Harry nodded quickly.
“Would you like to kiss me, Harry?” Goldie asked. She looked into his eyes.
Harry didn’t know what to say. Yes, he would like to kiss her. But then he remembered the Rule of Onnika. Kisses ended relationships.
Goldie looked intently at him, waiting, waiting for a moment that didn’t happen, and then slowly nodded. “I guess you’re just one of those guys who doesn’t like to kiss girls.”
Harry found his voice. “I… I….”
“You can resume rowing, Harry.” She looked disgusted.
“Goldie-”
“The oars, Harry,” said Goldie.
Harry started rowing again. He thought he caught the faintest twinkle in her eyes. Was she truly upset, or was she merely teasing him again?
“Look at that couple, Harry. They figured out how to do it,” said Goldie.
In a neighboring rowboat, a black man was kissing his girlfriend. She was black too, but was much lighter skinned, and had a slender caucasian nose.
“The male would like to copulate with the female human,” said Goldie.
Is she mocking me? Harry wondered.
Goldie held up an imaginary microphone, as if she were dictating a report.
“Space Force anthropologists Goldie MacPherson and Harry Crater have come across a remarkable planet, where the native life forms press their lips together, to stimulate arousal. Is that your conclusion as well, Astronaut Crater?”
Harry didn’t know what to say. She was mocking him, and yet… and yet… it was all so cute.
“Yes,” said Harry finally. “The male is attempting to persuade the female to fertilize her eggs.”
“Really?” said Goldie, her eyebrows lifting. “And how do we know that the female is not the one doing the persuading?”
“Look at the humans,” said Harry crisply. “Specifically, the male animal. See how the weight of his right leg is pressing against her, into her. Now look at the female of the species. Note how her right hand is flexing, and unflexing. She is the one receiving. She is the one being stimulated. The male is attempting to raise her arousal level to a state sufficient enough to make her acquiesce to fertilization.”
“I have a feeling she might do more than just acquiesce,” Goldie grinned, looking at the couple. “How about you, Harry? Do you ever acquiesce?” She smiled again. “Are you aware you blush a lot, Harry?”
“Around you I do,” said Harry.
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” said Goldie.
Harry looked her in the eye. “That’s how I meant it,” he said, his voice cracking slightly. They stared at each other for several long heartbeats, and something passed between them.
Then it was Goldie’s turn to blush, for once. She found her voice uncharacteristically rusty. “Let’s get this uh, ship back into port, Harry.”
********
They passed a giant chessboard, with squares big enough for people to stand on.
“Want to play chess, Harry?
“What, just the two of us? We don’t have any pieces!”
“That’s all right, Harry, we’ll make do. We’ll be the pieces,” Goldie grinned. “You’ll be a pawn on one side, and I’ll be a queen on the other side.” She moved to one end of the board.
“A pawn against a queen?” Harry said skeptically.
“Get on the board, Harry.”
Harry went and stood in a pawn’s position. Goldie moved over so that she was in the neighboring column, on the other end of the board. She took one step forward. “Your move, Harry.”
Harry sighed. He wondered what the point of this was. He took a step forward.
Goldie took another step forward. “Harry.”
Harry sighed, and took another step forward.
So did Goldie. “Your turn again, Harry.”
“If I take one more step, I’ll be diagonally adjacent to you, and you can take me,” Harry said.
“That’s right, Harry.”
“That’s not a winning strategy,” said Harry.
“Don’t you want to get taken, Harry?” Goldie asked.
“I… I….”
“Make the move, Harry. Acquiesce, and I will take you,” said Goldie.
Harry bit his lip. He knew something important was being decided here, but he wasn’t quite sure what.
“Acquiesce, Harry!”
Trembling slightly, he took a step forward.
“There, you see, that wasn’t so difficult,” said Goldie, her voice immediately softening. She slowly moved in front of him. She stared at him for a long moment. “And now I take you,” she whispered. “Are you ready to be taken, Harry?”
Harry had no words. He watched as Goldie slowly started to move her face closer to his. She stared into his eyes. She seemed to be relishing the moment. Her lips traced his in the most gentlest way possible. She traced them back and forth for a long moment. Then she took him by the arms, and pressed her lips firmly and decisively against his own. For a moment, time stopped as her lips grinded against his. She looked into his eyes, but they were closed, as he absorbed the physical sensation of it all. They kissed for a moment longer, reveling in the physical sensations, and then, as Goldie pulled back, she heard Harry utter the slightest of moans.
She smiled at him. “There.. Finally…” She studied him, as if he were her latest conquest. “I enjoyed taking you, Harry. How did you enjoy your… acquiescence?”
Harry said, “It was… nice.” He felt that nice didn’t begin to cover it, but he was at an uncharacteristic loss for words. He felt like he was drunk.
Goldie took him by the arm and led him to a nearby lawn. She lay down on her side, and gestured for Harry to do the same. It was a warm day in early November and the sun was bright and shining. Goldie opened Harry’s coat, and slowly put her hand inside. She let her fingers roam over his belly, and then his chest.
Harry didn’t say anything. His heart was beating a mile a minute.
With her free hand, Goldie opened up her own coat. Then she put Harry’s hand inside her own coat. “Don’t be naughty, Harry. At least, not too naughty.”
Harry cautiously started to move his hand. He felt her belly, moving his fingertips back and forth.
“I have other parts as well, Harry,” said Goldie. She took off her jacket, and gestured for Harry to do the same.
Harry started to touch her arms. Even through her shirt, she felt so soft. As he touched her, he felt her fingers on his own arms, on his own shoulders.
“Do you like it, Harry?”
“Yes,” Harry whispered.
“I’ll bet it’s been a while since you touched a girl, Harry,” said Goldie. “Do you miss it?”
“Yes,” said Harry, blushing because of the shared intimacy.
“I like touching you, Harry,” said Goldie, letting her hand roam over his chest. Even through his shirt, her touch felt like wildfire. “Do you like touching me, Harry? It’s all right to say it. Try saying it, Harry, give it a try.”
“I… I like touching you,” said Harry. He almost choked on the words.
“I like touching you too, dear,” she said, keeping busy with her hands.
Dear. She had called him dear!
“You feel so good,” said Goldie. “You make me excited. Do I make you excited, Harry?”
“Yes,” he gasped, like a confession. He stared into her clear blue eyes. They seemed to be hypnotic. For the longest time, they were lost in each others’ touch. Harry touched her arms and shoulder and legs, and Goldie touched his chest and neck and face. They weren’t even touching bare skin for the most part, and yet, the feeling of being touched, even through clothes, was somehow incredibly erotic. The feeling of her fingers, her fingers, full of warmth and lust and femininity… touching him through his shirt… feeling the soft caress… feeling the expression of her intense attraction… feeling the promise of more…. it all made Harry want to cry for joy. The way she looked at him, with hungering in her eyes, also excited him. Her eyes were full of lust. Just being in such close contact with a woman, a woman who clearly wanted him so badly… it was so intoxicating… so heady… he craved it so, so much….
Harry wasn’t the only one aroused. Goldie was very excited too. This wasn’t her normal pattern with men. He was so smart… and handsome… and attractive… and yet so vulnerable. By the third date she’d be hopping into bed with a new boyfriend. But it just felt so good to go slow with Harry. It was like… savoring a new taste… wanting to make that special moment, really, really count for something….
Time passed in unfathomable proportions. And then the sun started to cast shadows, and Goldie said, “Harry? Do you think we should have dinner now?”
Dinner?
Harry checked his chrono. It was nearly five o’clock. Where had nearly three hours gone?
As Harry got up, Goldie noticed tears in his eyes. “Harry, why are you crying?”
Harry blushed again. It had just been so beautiful, lying in the grass with such an attractive woman, such a simple pleasure, something which had been denied him his entire life. As he had stared at Goldie, lying there, with her dark blonde hair splayed across her shoulders and the grass, her womanly body side by side with him, the outlines of her firm breasts visible within her shirt, he realized that this was a view, and an experience, he was not likely to ever have again.
“I… I just… I’m just sad that this is going to end.”
“Harry!” Goldie hugged him tightly. It felt good, even through their respective clothes. “This is never going to end. We are going to be friends forever.”
Friends forever. Harry remembered the Rule of Gary, and wiped away more tears.
********
Dinner was a blur. Harry found himself lost in her, staring at her, trying to burn the memory of the experience into his brain. Goldie looked so beautiful, in her black leather jacket, with her wavy hair falling on her shoulders. Her breasts were firm ovals under her tight white blouse. She was so gorgeous.
“Do you see anything you like, Harry?” Goldie asked.
Harry blushed yet again. Normally, Goldie wasn’t attracted to shy, awkward men. But there was something about Harry, something pure, something innocent, which excited her in a way that Goldie had never felt before.
“This is what, our third or fourth date, is it?” said Goldie. “I don’t know if I’ve ever been on a fourth date without having sex. What about you, Harry?”
Harry had to adjust suddenly so he didn’t choke on his food. “I’d have to think about it.”
“I’m sure you would,” said Goldie. He could see the teasing in her eyes, which took some of the sting out of it. She paused. “So Harry, what is it like being a Fourther?”
Harry stiffened. Even though that was a fundamental part of his identity, no one had ever asked him that question before. He felt oddly relieved, to be able to talk about it. But how to express his feelings?
“It feels… alienating,” said Harry, quickly thinking of his spacesuit. No, he couldn’t tell Goldie about his spacesuit. She would never understand. She would think him terribly odd, and never want to see him again.
“Alienating?” said Goldie, sipping her wine.
How much to tell her? “I feel different from everyone else. I see things differently.”
“I know! You see things I never could!” said Goldie excitedly. “Like with the paintings at the museum. Or the trains in Grand Central. Or your observations about people–I mean, the humans, on the planet surface, of course.”
Harry felt a shiver through his body. She genuinely seemed to appreciate him for what he was! He had never experienced that before. “I… I… people just never seem to be able to relate to me.”
Goldie grabbed his hand. “I don’t know about other people, but I think I’m relating to you just fine.” She looked him in the eye. “And what I’m seeing, I’m starting to like very much.”
Harry, feeling a tense throbbing in his chest, tried to burn every detail of this moment into his brain. The look on Goldie’s face, the brilliant strands of brown and yellow hair curled around her kindly face. Her gorgeous blue eyes. The way her hand felt when she touched him. The look of intense interest in her face. The shininess of her black leather jacket. The firm roundness of the outlines of her breasts. The way he sat there, just inches from this wondrous being, this being of warmth and light and love, who seemed to want something from him, and only him. He wished he could record this moment so he could play it back forever and ever.
********
After dinner, Harry escorted her back to her hotel in a daze.
It was there she handed him another data chip.
“Another one?” said Harry.
“The last one, Harry,” said Goldie. “Solve this, and you’ll win the prize of prizes.”
Harry took the datachip, and inserted it into his Pad. His eyebrows lifted as he saw the latest problem.
“The toughest yet,” said Goldie. “We want it solved by Monday, at noon.”
“Monday!” said Harry.
“They want to see if you can work under time constraints,” said Goldie.
“This is crazy,” said Harry. “I’m not going to work for your company.” There, he had said it. And he almost regretted it even as he did. He looked to Goldie for her reaction.
Goldie’s face seemed to fall. “That would make me very sad, Harry,” said Goldie quietly. “That would mean I would never get to see you again.”
“I… I thought you had feelings for me,” said Harry.
She looked at him with hurt eyes. “I do have feelings for you. But my job is based in Boston, not New York, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that long distance relationships never work,” said Goldie.
“I… don’t know if I can solve this,” said Harry, studying the equation.
“You can, Harry,” said Goldie, turning to go.
“How do you know?” Harry asked.
“Because, more than anything, you want to see me again,” said Goldie. “Good night, Harry.” And she walked into the elevator bank.
********
[THE PAST]
Harry was excited when he finally graduated high school. It wasn’t a moment too soon. Harry had thought college would be different. He thought the humans there would be more mature, more intellectual.
Was he ever wrong.
Harry went to Yale, and was surprised to find nearly the same kinds of people he had known in high school. Athletes concerned with the movements of the ball. Girls concerned with attracting boys. Boys and girls who pretended to be intellectual, but all they tended to do was regurgitate whatever their professors told them, like parrots. And even their professors didn’t understand the implications of their own indoctrinations.
As a result, Harry once again felt lonely. It was an enormous letdown. He had expected to find kindred spirits in college. He met some students who were very smart, but they were smart in their own narrow area, like the sciences. They weren’t life smart. Whenever Harry opened his mouth, he once again quickly found himself isolated.
Harry decided to major in biology and biochemistry. He wanted to study the human life form more closely, to understand how it worked. But even as he began to understand the biological mechanics of this life form, it gave him very little insight into how their minds worked.
Every Friday night Harry would watch the ritual where humans would transform into animals. They would drag enormous kegs of beer into their rooms. They would turn off all the lights. They would turn on music very loudly. Then they would drink beer and try to talk, or yell, very loudly over the music. And then, presumably, some of them would procreate.
The next morning the only evidence of their debauchery would be the sticky steps of the stairwells where people had spilled their beer.
Harry didn’t know for sure what went on in these parties, because he was never invited and wouldn’t have gone if he had been. Instead, he spent his Friday nights walking from campus to campus, staring up at the stars. Standing there, in his silvery spacesuit, he felt more at home in the stars than he did among the humans.
Harry did make a friend of sorts at Yale. His name was Dack Huobang. Dack was studying electrical engineering. He didn’t talk much, but he viewed humans, the other humans, as different entities too. They would sit up late into the evenings and talk about their observations about life.
After Harry graduated, he decided to get a masters degree and Ph.D. at Harvard in biochemistry. Dack went to Texas A&M to get an advanced degree in electronics. He assured Harry that they would keep in touch, that they would always be friends.
Harry never heard from Dack again. He never called Harry once. When Harry called him, Dack spoke to him, but Harry could tell it was without any enthusiasm. Finally, after the third time Harry called him, when he heard long periods of silence on the other side of the line, Harry realized that their friendship was over. He remembered the Rule of Gary.
The people in Harry’s Master’s program at Harvard were very smart when it came to biochemistry, but not much else. In Harry’s estimation they had practically zero personality. They were a little like robots, although Harry imagined that real robots would have been more interesting to talk to.
But there was one person who caught Harry’s eye, a fellow student named Erica Calley. She was always smiling at Harry in classes. The more she smiled, the more nervous Harry got, but finally he smiled in return. And then the day came when Erica sat next to him in class, and said, “Now we don’t have to look at each other across the room, do we, Harry?”
They started having lunches together. Erica thought Harry was cute, and interesting, and also odd, in a way she couldn’t quite put her finger on. She would often subtly prompt Harry into asking her out on dates. “Do you know any good movies to see tonight, Harry?” she would ask. Or “I’d love to try that restaurant in Harvard Square, but I don’t know anyone to go with.” Even Harry got the message (eventually), and they started dating.
He found her attractive, and smart, and things progressed from there. After Harry didn’t kiss her on the first or second date, Erica frowned at the end of the third date and said, “I can see if I want to get anywhere with you, Harry, I’m going to have to do it myself.” And she reached out and kissed him.
Harry felt himself hugging her as they kissed. He liked it. He had been afraid to kiss her because of the Rule of Onnika, but since Erica initiated the kiss, he found it worth the risk, and he kissed her back.
One thing led to another, and three dates later they were fooling around on Erica’s couch. Erica had figured out by now that she had to take the lead if she wanted anything physical from Harry, and she methodically set out to seduce him. Soon they both had their clothes off and were kissing and touching. Erica worked Harry with her hand and quickly made him hard.
“Put it in me, Harry,” she whispered, looking into his eyes. “I need it so bad.”
Harry, feeling very nervous, shifted up and plunged into her. But he didn’t get very far. He looked down. His penis was embedded in her thigh.
Erica, looking disgusted, lifted and aimed his penis. “Now, Harry.”
Harry smoothly and easily slid inside of her. It felt like magic. He was inside a female of the species! Erica was smooth and slick and warm. He found himself slowly embedded in her. He marveled at the sensations.
“It works even better if you move, Harry.”
Harry started to thrust back and forth. He made moaning sounds. He went faster and faster. Within moments his organ exploded, shooting inside of her.
He panted, gasping. He had done it. He had copulated with a human female. If she was ovulating, he might even have fertilized her eggs. He felt very masculine. Very powerful.
Harry he looked up at Erica. “How was that?”
Erica assured him that it was fine. And now wasn’t the time late, and shouldn’t he be getting back to his dorm room?
Harry never saw Erica again. He tried to understand what had gone wrong, but he couldn’t. He simply didn’t have enough data to theorize. All he could think of is that before he had sex with Erica, he had a relationship with her; and after sex, he had none. From that he learned the Rule of Erica: sex ended relationships.
********
Goldie took her parent’s advice to heart and calmed down once she went to college. At Wesleyan, she only had three boyfriends for her entire four years. She realized that sex wasn’t dramatically different from man to man. She instead sought out the ideal mate.
Her first boyfriend was Bruce. Bruce was on the soccer team, and had legs that Goldie could die for. Goldie loved watching his muscular thighs as he pumped in and out of her. His ass was hard as a rock as she clasped onto it while they recreated together. But Bruce wasn’t much for talking. His conversational skills were… minimal.
So her sophomore year she traded Bruce in for Michael. Michael was majoring in political science and was always talking. At first, it was interesting, but soon, it became wearying. Goldie learned that there was a difference between quantity of conversation and quality.
So in her junior year Goldie found a man, Stephan, who was both smart and interesting. Stephan was an abstract art painter. He was extremely interesting to talk to. Very good in bed too. But Stephan had a downside. He was often moody, and pouting. The longer Goldie was together with him, the more she saw this unhappy side to him. Their relationship didn’t last through the school year.
Finally in her senior year, Goldie did the unthinkable, and had an affair with Alyssa Goldberg. Alyssa had been giving Goldie half-lidded looks for months. One time she saw Alyssa peering into her shower stall while she was bathing. Goldie knew she was interested.
So one Friday night Goldie came to Alyssa’s room with a bottle of schnapps and figured that that was all that was needed. She was right. Very quickly the two were kissing and rubbing each other. Before long they were naked, and fingering each other’s clitorises.
“Do you like this?” Alyssa asked.
“Yeah,” said Goldie. “But I kind of miss….”
“Miss what?”
“The feeling of being filled, you know? By a penis,” said Goldie. Goldie was always blunt about her needs.
“I’m way ahead of you,” said Alyssa. She put a black leather strap around her waist. In the middle of it was an equally black phallus.
“What’s that for?” Goldie asked.
“I’ll demonstrate,” said Alyssa. She smiled wickedly at Goldie as she lubricated it, especially at the tip.
“That’s how you… that’s how lesbians…..”
“Uh huh,” said Alyssa, getting above her.
“You’re not putting that in me!” said Goldie.
“Just try it. Just an inch,” said Alyssa. Before Goldie could protest, she had pressed it against her nether lips. Goldie gasped as it was inserted. First an inch. Then two inches. Then all of it.
Goldie’s eyes went wide. Alyssa started to pump it in and out of her. Goldie started to enjoy it, a little. But she had had too many penises inside of her to enjoy this. This was so stiff, so artificial, so unlifelike. It was like making love to a giant candle. She faked an orgasm just to get Alyssa off of her.
“Here, now you do me,” said Alyssa, as she unstrapped the device.
*********
And so Goldie stayed single for most of her senior year. Most of the good men were taken anyway.
Wesleyan bored Goldie. She majored in art history, figuring she would get to look at pretty paintings, but never imagined how boring her professors could make the subject. She found herself staring into space during class times, or staring at boys.
A new thought occurred to her. Maybe the new experiences she craved were not sexual in nature. Maybe she needed other kinds of physical stimulation.
She took up downhill skiing.
Water skiing.
Motorcycling.
Roller coasters.
Parachuting.
Anything involving speed. It gave her an adrenalin thrill, for a while.
But like everything else, she soon got used to it.
Goldie spent her summers travelling across the world. At first, she was fascinated by the foreign cultures, the different foods and languages. The summer of her freshman year she saw London, Paris, Prague, and Rome. They were incredible. The second summer, she went to Berlin, Innsbruck, Madrid, and Athens, which were really nice. But the third summer she spent in Australia, Bali and Japan was… all right.
She didn’t travel abroad for her fourth summer.
Her father tried to talk some sense into her. “Life is not about travel, or sleeping with many people.”
“Then what is life about, Father?” she asked, twirling her dark blonde hair.
“It’s about finding your place. The thing you’re good at. The thing you enjoy.”
“But I don’t know what that is,” said Goldie.
“You will,” said her father.
Sunday
Harry worked feverishly on the equation. It made no sense to him. There were just too many unexplained variables. The more he worked on it, the more frustrated he became.
“Don’t let yourself get so worked up about it,” said Carl. “You know you’re approaching the end of the line. She said herself that this is the final test.”
“But at least I can get one more date out of it. One more chance to see her!” said Harry, writing frantically as he tried to reformulate the equation. No, it still didn’t make sense to him.
“You’re going to have to break it off sooner or later, Harry. You let yourself get too involved.”
“I didn’t have a choice,” said Harry. He knew that Goldie had ulterior motives. But he was attracted to her nonetheless.
********
“I gave him the last equation yesterday, sir,” said Goldie, as she sat in front of the holoprojector.
“Good. Have you been bringing him along?”
“Yes sir,” said Goldie.
“Do you think he will respond favorably to our offer?”
Goldie thought about Harry’s insistence that he would not work for The Foundation. Then she thought about how he had cried real tears after they lay together on the grass in Central Park, tenderly caressing each other. “I think so, sir.”
“Keep me informed.” His image faded.
Goldie looked at herself in the mirror. She felt an unfamiliar tension in her chest. Could she be developing real feelings for Harry? When they had been laying in the park together, side by side, touching each other, she had felt lust, to be sure. But love?
Goldie didn’t know. She didn’t even know what love really was. All she knew was that if Harry didn’t solve the last equation, Harry wouldn’t be the only one to endure a painful breakup.
********
[THE PAST]
After college, Harry gave up on his Ph.D in biochemistry. Technically, he had completed the requirements in a year and a half, but his advisor refused to accept his thesis.
“Technically this is superb,” said Professor McGillicuddy. “But you haven’t put the time in.”
“I haven’t needed to put the time in,” said Harry. “I learned what I came here to learn.”
McGillicuddy sighed. “Harry, what would happen if word got out that we were giving out Ph.D’s in less than two years?”
“More people would be encouraged to apply for them?”
“That’s true, Harry, but also Ph.D.’s themselves would be devalued. No, Harry, if you want a Ph.D., you have to spend at least five years in research.”
Five years was an eternity to Harry, so he gave up. He spend two more years studying on his own, learning more about computers, mathematics, and biology than most people learned in 20. Harry had an eidetic memory; he remembered everything he saw. He processed information much more rapidly. He could read a thick textbook within two hours. More importantly, he could understand it, and think beyond it, considering things that were missing from it that should have been expanded upon.
His mother nagged him to get a job. She said he had to be self sufficient if he wanted to attract a girl. She had a point. He needed to be self sufficient. Harry got a job at a biotech company which was researching a drug which could potentially eliminate arthritis. He found the concept interesting… but he quickly found the work boring. Harry’s job was to prepare the protocols for clinical trials. When he learned that there would have to be five years of trials before the drug could be approved, he quit.
But before he quit, he made a new friend. His name was Boris. Harry enjoyed having discussions about theories of biochemistry with him. Boris had an engaging mind. They went out to lunch a number of times and Harry enjoyed his company. When Harry quit his job, he and Boris exchanged numbers and promised to keep in touch.
Harry never expected to hear from Boris again. He was right.
But one person he did keep in touch with after he quit was Alexandra.
Alexandra, his new girlfriend.
After his catastrophic experience with Erica, Harry was doubly shy about having sexual relations with another woman. A woman who worked in data analysis at the biotech company where Harry briefly worked was attracted to him. Her name was Jennifer Turley and she and Harry went out several times, but Harry never so much as kissed Jennifer. He remembered the Rule of Onnika; a kiss would spell the end of things. Jennifer, annoyed with Harry’s apparent platonic nature, dumped him.
But Alexandra McCall gave Harry more of a chance. They had met at a company outing. She thought Harry was handsome and viewed his shyness as a welcome challenge. Two dates later in a movie theater she was exploring his body in the dark as they sat watching an action thriller. Harry found her hands more exciting than the movie. And then she turned his head and kissed him on the lips, and Harry forgot about the movie entirely.
Alexandra was under no illusions that Harry would be the one to initiate sex with her so, after several dates of seeing no movement in that direction, she invited him over for dinner. It was there that Harry learned the first of two rules of Alexandra.
The First Rule of Alexandra is that when a woman invites you over for dinner, you are going to have sex.
The Second Rule of Alexandra Harry was to learn, tragically, a few weeks later.
Harry and Alexandra had sex. Harry tried to do the best he could. Alexandra, mistaking him for a virgin, tried to help him. She told him where to put it, when to put it, and how to put it. Under her direction he became a very pliable piston in her engine. She told him to speed up or slow down as needed. Before long, to Harry’s great delight, she groaned and her chest turned red and she collapsed back into her pillow, mere moments after Harry had climaxed.
And then Harry watched and waited. He didn’t dare ask how the sex was. He just lay there with her, waiting for her to tell him to leave.
Alexandra did give him a hint, an hour later, as she hugged and kissed Harry, that it was time for him to go, and Harry suspected that was the end of it.
But then Alexandra called Harry a few days later, and after going out for dinner, they went back to her apartment, and had sex again!
Harry was amazed. This was the first time he had had sex twice with the same woman. He loved the feeling of her body. He loved pressing his chest against her breasts. He loved coming inside of her. Alexandra wasn’t as smart as Harry, not nearly so, but after years of loneliness, she was like a life preserver at sea.
But then, after the third time they had sex, Harry made his fatal mistake. He felt smitten with her. He realized Alexandra by far was not his intellectual equal, but he had been so very lonely, for so long. And so after they were lying in bed, arm in arm, he looked at her, and murmured, “I love you.”
“What?” said Alexandra. It was like she had been hit by lightning.
It was too late to take it back now. “I love you,” said Harry. He immediately sensed he had said the wrong thing.
Alexandra looked up at the ceiling. “Harry, I like you… I enjoy you… but it’s a little too soon for love.” She looked at him and pat his hair. “Don’t rush things, Harry. Everything will come in its own time.”
“Of course,” said Harry, feeling as if he had just dodged a land mine.
And that was the last time he ever saw Alexandra. She didn’t return his calls or messages. And that lead Harry to the Second Rule of Alexandra: Never tell a woman you love her.
As he walked in Boston Commons, wearing his silvery spacesuit, and watching other couples walk hand in hand, he reflected on all his mistakes in life.
********
Right out of college, Goldie got a job in event planning. She thought it would be a great opportunity to meet people. She couldn’t have been more wrong. Most of her work involved keeping track of a million tedious details: room reservations, food, special accommodations, invitations lists, and much more. She was so bored she quit in her first month.
Then she got a job working at customer service at a bank. She figured that would give her people contact as well. She was right, but it was the most boring kind of interactions. All people wanted to talk about was their bank accounts. Goldie had no interest in talking about that. She used the opportunity to flirt shamelessly with her clients. One of them, a man named Matias who was ten years her senior, rose to the bait and asked her out to dinner. Before long they were dating and soon after that were mattress dancing.
Matias was a wealthy… actually, Goldie wasn’t quite sure what he did for a living. But he did have a lot of money, that she knew first hand. Matias took her out for dinners at fancy restaurants. He took her to concerts, and the ballet. He even took her on his yacht–a small yacht, but a yacht, nonetheless. Matias was tall, handsome, and dark haired, and good in bed.
Goldie’s parents were relieved to learn that Goldie finally seemed to be settling down. She and Matias were together for a full year before Matias popped the question.
And then Goldie turned him down.
“Why, Goldie, why?” her father asked.
“He’s handsome,” said Goldie, ticking the reasons off on her fingers. “He’s successful. He’s kind. He’s smart.”
“Those are not reasons to reject him” said her mother.
“But he bores you,” said her father.
“That’s it, Dad,” said Goldie, grinning.
“Goldie… you’re a restless spirit. You’re never going to find someone who is going to captivate you,” said her father. “Please, please, think about settling for someone who is nice, kind, and compassionate.”
Goldie’s face turned into a frown. For a moment, it seemed like she might cry. “I’d like to.. Father… but… I’m just not built that way.”
“Then you will always be alone, I fear,” said her father.
********
Goldie blinked. She heard her comm buzzing. What time was it? Five o’clock in the morning. Who could it be?
She activated it. “Harry?” she said, blinking.
“It’s unsolvable,” said the holoimage of Harry. “The equation is unsolvable, unless you define the y variable.”
Harry looked like a mess. His hair was all over the place. His eyes were droopy and red. He looked as tired as she felt. She paused to let his words sink in for a moment.
“Well?” Harry demanded.
Slowly, despite her fatigue, she let her face break out into a smile. “I’ll be on the first stratoliner to JFK in the morning, Harry. I’ll see you at noon.” There was genuine warmth in her voice. As she terminated the connection, she realized she no longer felt sleepy. With a spring in her step, she hopped to the bathroom.